Shozoku Tale of Nine
by Salamandrastron
Summary: For centuries the Shozoku have guarded the SuiKa with their lives. Now it's been stolen. There's one Shozoku left. Can he get the SuiKa back?


A figure tied cloth to his armor. He pulled an oddly shaped helmet over his head. The back of it had a sharp point on it, and it had a filter like peice over the mouth. His eyes glowed yellow through the eyeholes. He turned and opened a window, faint moonlight streaming in. He placed a foot on the ledge when he heard footsteps behind him. 

"You're a fool if you return there." a harsh voice shouted. "I'd rather be a fool than coward." another voice said, sounding slightly muffled. "Bah" the harsh vocie said in clear frustration. "Go if you want. It's your funeral." "Don't expect to see me again." the second voice said. There came the sound of someone jumping out of a window, then silence. "You're a fool..."

* * *

**_Shozoku_**

_Tale of Nine_

* * *

It was near midnight, and a single person shot across open fields. No light shone, except the light from the figure's own eyes. An ominous, yellow glow. It reflected off of his armor faintly, casting a barely visible glow in all directions around the figure. It took only a moment for the figure to cross the field. When he reached the other side, the sound of running water reached his ears. He crouched slightly as he ran, and jumped up and forward. He vanished midway through his jump in a flickering of shadows, appearing on the opposite bank of the river out of the shadows. Imeediately after he landed, he shot forward again. 

He came to a sudden halt in the shadow of a large boulder, and he ducked into the concealment of its' shadow. The reason became clear as footsteps could be heard down the path he had been traveling. They were from the direction he had been going, and they were coming toward him. _If I get caught here...it's all over..._ He stepped further back into the shadow, and waited.

He did not have to wait long, as soon a figure came running down the path. In his hand was a sword, glistening with fresh, crimson blood. At the sight of that, the eyes of the figure hiding behind the rock widened. _Damn it...too late... Wait...the Sui-Ka! _Without hesitating, he jumped from his hiding place and slashed open the side of the other figure with a dagger he had, then hurried down the path. He reached the top of a hill, and nearly fainted when he saw the sight.

The temple that housed the sacred _Sui-Ka_ was burning, and many of its' walls were torn apart. "I knew it was bad...but I didn't know it would be that bad..." The armored figure shook his head. "Keep it together. They may not have gotten through to the _Sui-Ka _yet." Without wasting a heartbeat, he shot forward and jumped over a burning wall, landing inside and immediately becoming half blinded and choked from the haze and heat of the blaze. He nearly fell to his knees, but he managed to remain standing.

His breathing suddenly went quiet, and then a mist rolled out when he exhaled. The air immediately around him cooled and he could breathe a bit easier. Wasting no time, he shot forward into the heart of the flames. _If i'm wrong about this... Well, i've lived my life._ He pushed that thought aside and continued. He plowed forward, ignoring the pain the heat around him caused his limbs and his lungs. If only his helmet filtered some of the heat as well as the smoke!

He paused at a two-way path, looking from one to the other. One was litered with debris and burning embers, but was not yet burning as the rest of the temple was. The other path was ablaze and the cieling was starting to fall. He looked from one to the other for a moment, then shot down the one not yet burning. He reached the end and found it a dead end. The end of the path rounded a corner, but the path wwas ablaze and the ceiling had already collapsed. _If I survive this...i'm never going near another fire._

He took a few steps back, then he shot forward and jumped over the flames, landing on the wall and kicking off. He continued this until he reached the end of the hall, and immediately fell to his knees. The thin cloth he had over his hands had been singed off by the heat of the fire and his exposed flesh had been burned and scorched by the heat. It was not a serious injury, but it was enough to give him pause. His skin was blackened and scorched, and in some places it had reddened and partially burnt off. _That was too close...a couple more jumps like those, and I would've lost some skin... _He gave himself no time for thought, however, and continued. His pace was more rapid than before as he was afraid he had wasted time.

_ Got to hurry..._ he urged himself as he flipped over a wall of flame. He braced himself for what he saw ahead. The floor was ablaze for nearly twenty feet. The remainder of the hall he was on. _I can't jump that...the hall's too low... I'm gonna get burned again, but i've got no choice..._ With that thought, he adjsuted hsi running so he ran up onto the wall. Somehow, he managed to stay on the wall long enough to clear the flames, but only just. When he reached the floor again, he had to pause a moment. The other side of that wall must be burning fiercely!

He shook his legs a moment to get the sting out of his feet, then continued. He reached a door, finding it burning. He drew back slightly, then dove forward at the door. It came crashing down under his weight and was smashed into six or seven peices upon impact with the floor. This room was where the _Sui-Ka_ would normally be, but now, it was nothing but an inferno. A deadly pit of white hot flame. In the heart of the burning mass, there lay two figures. Both wore armor nearly identical to his. He gasped in shock and ran to them, ignoring the heat of the fire. He reached them and knelt down, lifting the upper torso of one of them. "What...who...why..." He hung his head in shame.

The figure in his arms coughed. "It was...like a nightmare... There were...nine of them... One of them...he had wings...like an angel...but black as a moonless night... He did this... In less than ten secodns he had killed Seliace...and started this blaze..." At this point the figure lifted one of its' hands and grasped the the clothu nder the other's helmet. "Salas...the _Sui-Ka_...they've taken it...it's gone..." At those words, Salas's heart sank. He had been too late after all. "It's...my fault... I left... I should've stayed and-" He was cut off by the other. "No... You didn't know... Salas...they left behind the pendant Use it to find them...locate the_ Sui-Ka_...take it from them...don't let them use ot forwhat they have planned..." His breathing slowed, then went still. The faint blue glow that had been coming from the eyeholes of his armor was extinguished.

Salas lowered him to the ground and stood up. _They won't use it for what they have planed._ He walked to the very center of the blaze, where the flame burned pure white, and dove through it. The cloth on his armor caught fire and the heat singed his skin through the armor. He ignored the pain and landed inside the ring of white flame. He grabbed the pendant off a pedestal in the center of the ring, closing his fist around it, then dove back through the flames. He landed outside the ring, then turned to his fallen friend. "I will get it back, my friend...rest assured." Salas jumped into the air and vanished in a flickering of shadows just as the roof groaned and collapsed in a shower of sparks and chunks of burning wood.


End file.
